State Rep. John Becker 'not afraid' to stand alone

Oct. 4, 2013

Becker profile LOCAL Ohio State Representative for the 65th District, John Becker held a town hall style meeting at the Holiday Inn Eastgate where he informed a modest group on the inner workings of State government and the budget. August 29, 2013 The Enquirer/ Tony Jones / The Enquirer/ Tony Jones

Becker’s bills

Bills introduced so far would: • Eliminate “fee” paid by couples filing joint state income taxes • Remove “automatic firearm” label from semi-automatic guns that can fire more than 31 cartridges • Require law enforcement to sell or reuse confiscated firearms, rather than destroying them • Allow hunters to use gun silencers • Allow licensed state and local government employees to carry concealed weapons into public buildings that lack metal detectors • Eliminate special elections in February and August • Allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for certain sex crimes, including aggravated rape and aggravated sexual battery • Set two-week early-voting period • Take Ohio’s Medicaid coverage back to federal minimums by cutting back coverage for some parents, pregnant women and people who work and have disabilities • Restrict in-person early voting to Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. • Prohibit counties from mailing unsolicited voter registration or absentee ballot forms; restrict such mailings to statewide by secretary of state’s office; prohibit prepaid return postage on election mailings • Protect doctors from malpractice lawsuits on care for uninsured poor • Require driver’s license, state ID, military ID or passport to vote • Prohibit “double-dipping,” when public employees draw both a public pension and a salary

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COLUMBUS — Just call him Ohio’s Don Quixote.

That’s the analogy state Rep. John Becker, R-Union Township, offers before you finish the obvious question: He’s nine months into his job as state representative, he sometimes votes against his party, and he’s pumping out controversial bills – most of which aren’t likely to pass, even in a GOP-dominated Legislature. Does he ever feel –

“Like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills?” he offers. “Yes, I do. Taking on the federal government – that is, obviously, much bigger than I am. I’d rather do something and have it fail than just do nothing and watch the status quo continue on.

“I’ve stood alone before, and I’m not afraid to do it again.”

Becker, 52, may be only a state representative, and a brand new one at that, but he still feels he can cut back on federal spending by turning down federal money the state doesn’t have to accept. That’s one reason he’s against Medicaid expansion and has even introduced legislation to shrink the state’s participation in the federal health care program.

While he’s at it, he wants to cut down on state spending by overhauling the state’s elections laws, even eliminating special elections in February and August. And require photo identification for voting. And loosen gun restrictions. And the list goes on. So far, he’s introduced 14 bills, tied with Cleveland Democrat Bill Patmon for the most in this session of the Ohio House of Representatives.

None of his bills are about abortion – to him, the most important issue – but that’s about to change. He’s drafting a bill that would prohibit insurers from covering abortions except in pregnancies in which a fertilized egg implants in a fallopian tube.

He’s also one of dozens of cosponsors on the Heartbeat Bill, which would ban abortions after the detection of the first fetal heartbeat.

Becker is one of his party’s most conservative members. In a debate on Wednesday over needle-exchange programs for heroin users, Becker led the opposition, calling the measure “enablement,” “surrender to the drug pushers” and part of the “liberal social agenda.” The bill passed the House 72-23 and moved to the Senate.

Tears when Bill Clinton was elected

Becker’s interest in politics began with his involvement in the anti-abortion movement. In 1983, as a 21-year-old student at Northern Kentucky University, he joined a church group in marching in Washington, D.C., on the 10th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. He’s made the trip every decade since.

In the late ’80s, as Becker became more dedicated to his Christian faith, he became more serious about politics. Then, when President Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, “tears literally ran down my cheeks,” he said. “I knew I needed to do more than just vote.”

He became a member of the Clermont County Republican Central Committee and, in 2004, joined the Republican State Committee. Last year, when now-state Sen. Joe Uecker, R-Miami Township, was set to leave the House due to term limits, Becker ran for Uecker’s 65th District seat and won.

Introducing lots of bills – Becker has dropped almost a bill a week since June – is what his constituents expect, he said.

“They want me up here doing something,” he said. “When they ask me, ‘Becker, what are you doing in Columbus?’ I don’t want to say, ‘I’m not doing anything.’ ”

Becker acknowledges that many of his bills don’t have much of a chance of passing. Bills’ passage is up to the majority House GOP caucus as a whole, spokesman Mike Dittoe said.

“Since you have 99 members of the House, you’re going to have a lot of different opinions, no matter which party they’re from,” Dittoe said. “The speaker (Bill Batchelder, R-Medina) very much respects the right of each member to introduce bills they believe their constituents are looking to see. From talking with Rep. Becker, I know he falls into that category.”

If the attendees at a recent town hall meeting provide any evidence, Becker’s constituents are behind him.

At the meeting, about a month ago at the Holiday Inn Eastgate, the roughly 50-person audience broke into applause when Becker said he opposed Ohio’s adoption of national Common Core education standards, a system of guidelines for reading and math that are supposed to emphasize critical thinking and analysis.

While some in the crowd occasionally pushed back on Becker’s specific ideas, only one person challenged him, on Medicaid. “Health care is not a luxury. People will die,” the audience member said.

Becker encouraged the man to speak, then said, “Which is the exception: the people who are abusing welfare or the people who really need it? Nobody has a right to health care.”

Took unemployment, but opposes Medicaid

Becker understands what it’s like to take state or federal support. He has taken unemployment more than once, he said, amid upheaval in the banking industry he worked in.

“I have never criticized people for accepting benefits from the government,” he said.

So why author legislation that would cut back the number of people receiving Medicaid coverage in Ohio?

“It’s a matter of, ‘Is it wise for the federal government to do that?’ ” he said. His Medicaid-contraction bill would save state and federal taxpayers $1.5 billion annually, he says. Plus, he said, he also authored a bill that would protect doctors from malpractice lawsuits on care for the poor and uninsured. He hopes that bill would encourage doctors to give more free care to those who need help.

Even if Becker’s legislation sometimes doesn’t have much a chance of passing, his bills have drawn robust opposition from Democrats. Sen. Nina Turner, D-Cleveland, who is running for secretary of state, has spoken out against his Medicaid-contracting bill and his voting-related bills, calling them “totally out of touch with the needs of Ohio’s citizens.”

“I call on all Ohioans, and especially moderate, common-sense Republicans, to reject this far-right proposal that would devastate Ohio families,” she said in a statement about the Medicaid bill.

Becker sometimes finds himself against his own party: H: He’s one of seven Republicans who voted against the GOP-designed state budget that became law on July 1, saying the budget’s 10 percent increase from 2011 levels was “too much for my blood.”

And while he says Republican Gov. John Kasich hasn’t been the cost-cutter he expected him to be, he admires Kasich’s proposing an alternative budget when he was in Congress.

“Someday in Ohio, there might be a Becker Budget,” he said. “That might be coming sooner than you think.”

He already has the Becker Report, a monthly e-newsletter he started in 2004 to report from the Republican State Committee. In the beginning, five people read it. The report now circulates to 800 people. Recent Becker Report content has ranged from Bible verses about homosexuality to quotes from the Founding Fathers about the limited powers of the federal government.

On Monday, the Becker Report included a copy of a letter to U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Columbia Tusculum, requesting that Wenstrup start impeachment proceedings against U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black for ordering that Ohio death certificates recognize two same-sex marriages that occurred in other states.

Becker also plans to introduce a resolution in the Ohio House next week calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Black. Still, he doesn’t think the House will act. Two weeks ago, when Becker first sent the letter to Wenstrup, the congressman’s office e-mailed The Enquirer a statement: “While Judge Black's ruling violated the Ohio Constitution and the will of Ohio voters, the question of whether this decision also violated the U.S. Constitution remains before a higher court,” Wenstrup said. “I will watch those appellate proceedings closely.”

Becker hopes elements of some of his bills will become law, even if many of them have little chance of passing in their entirety. His bill eliminating special elections in February and August has the best hope of passing, he said. Assistant Majority Floor Leader John Adams, R-Sidney, is the other sponsor of the bill, which has 24 cosponsors.

Many representatives will only introduce legislation that has the support of much of their caucus, said Uecker, who held Becker’s seat until this year. Still, “John has presented a lot of ideas that are openly out there in the public for discussion, so what better way to get it out there than present it as a bill?” Uecker said.

But Ohio’s Don Quixote doesn’t worry about his bill-passage record.

“One person, of course, can’t (make a difference). But you never know how people can change and times can change,” Becker said. “At this point, at least I’m planting seeds.” ■

I watch state government to look out for the interests of Southwest Ohioans. Email me at cthompson@enquirer.com.